Sheffield Eagles make sixth signing as centre arrives from Doncaster

The centre has penned a two-year deal after joining from South Yorkshire neighbours Doncaster where he bagged 14 tries in 28 appearances for the League One club last season.

Bower becomes the second centre to sign on the dotted line during the close season after Zak McComb’s arrival from Oldham.

Bower, who started his career with Hull FC, is relishing the prospect at challenging himself at Championship level.

He said: “For me, I’ve always aspired to get to this level (Championship).

“I’m finally happy that it has come about. When I spoke to Mark (Aston), everything he was saying was music to my ears and I could really picture myself being here - especially after talking to the Hull boys too, they speak very highly of Mark and the club itself.

“To progress as a player is something I want to do and I’m happy to say I’ll be here for the next two years as it’s comfortable for myself so I can knuckle down and hopefully we can have a couple of successful seasons.”

Meanwhile, Aston has been assessing his class of 2020 after the full squad returned for pre-season training mid-way through this week.

He said: “We are back in now, so it is all systems go. We usually give them six weeks off, but they’ve had eight, but some of the injured players have been back in early, and some the new players have been back in for some assessments. So far so good.”